Another Year
by TheOnlyMeThereIs
Summary: Kouichi and Mei graduate with a class less than a third of the size that it started out and decided to put the past behind them. Five years later, Mei gives birth to two twin girls. But when the girls enter ninth grade and are put in class three, old memories begin to resurface- will Kouichi and Mei have the strength to guide their children away from disaster? Sounds bad just read
1. Chapter 1

**As the description suggest, this fic is going to follow the story of Kouichi and Mei's twin daughters.**

**It won't be a long fanfic, but it's not a one-shot or anything.**

**Just to be clear, I don't own Another or it's characters...**

* * *

"Misaki! Reiko! You're going to be late!"

The two sisters came running downstairs, carrying, over their shoulders, identical satchels full of identical books and two identical lunches.

"Have a good first day, your father will run you to school, since you both took so long getting ready."

"Yes mother." The twins chorused, stepping forward one after the other to be hugged.

"I'll stop by the shop on the way home Mai, we need bread." Kouichi told his wife, kissing her briefly on the cheek before grabbing his coat and heading to the car…

* * *

"Class three."

The class was silent. All that could be heard was the ticking of the clock.

"Ninth grade, class three."

More silence.

Class three's homeroom teacher, Kazaki-sensei, was lost for words. How do you tell a class full of bright-eyed students that they are doomed? All of them would have heard the story already, but as with every year, very few of them would believe it.

"I am sure you have all heard… about the curse of class three…" he began unsurely.

There were a few murmurs, and more than a few raised eyebrows. In fact, out of the whole class, only one member was not shocked. She sat on the front row, her arms folded and her head bowed, not making eye contact with anyone.

"The governors of this school do not believe in the curse of this class… but it is up to me to tell you that it is real."

Now the entire class waited with bated breath, hardly daring to believe what they were hearing.

Kazaki sighed.

"If you do not believe me, remember that we were one desk short this morning. You all know what that means. There is, however, one measure we can take to make sure the calamity does not begin. I will leave it up to our newly appointed head of countermeasures to explain."

Akazawa Sayura stood slowly from her desk, and walked to the front of the class.

"Before I begin, I should explain something."

She spoke quietly, but had the undivided attention of the class nevertheless.

"I was not selected for this position. I volunteered." She glanced around the room, catching the eye of each individual in turn. "My mother lost both her cousins and her younger brother to this curse. I don't want her losing me as well."

Misaki and Reiko glanced at each other. They too had heard of the curse having eavesdropped on one of their parents conversations about it, but had not fully believed until now.

"Which is why the measure we are going to take is of utmost importance. It must be followed to the very last extent, and under no circumstances is it allowed to be broken. One student in this room will, for the remainder of the year, effectively become non-existent. This means the rest of the class are to ignore their very presence. There will be no communicating with this student, and even no acknowledgment of their existence. Mr. Kazaki has already selected the student who will become non-existent."

The class waited in anticipation.

"The student is… Sakakibara Misaki."

Misaki gulped. Her throat was as dry as a bone.

"And I have to accept?"

"Misaki, don't!" Reiko shouted to her twin.

"The consequences of not accepting are unthinkable. If you want to save the lives of your classmates, I suggest you accept. It is only for one year. Surely you can go a year without being spoken to? For the good of the class?"

"I accept."

Misaki's voice was barely a whisper, and her eyes were downcast, staring blankly at the desk before her. Reiko's eyes were also on her desk. The gazes of the whole class burnt holes in their skin, leaving the silent twins feeling naked and exposed.

"It's settled then. From now on, Misaki-san, you cease to exist. And you, Reiko-san, must not speak to your twin. As a member of this class, you too are bound to our rules, and you too bear the responsibility of our lives. Don't forget that."

* * *

"Misaki! Misaki! Look at me!"

Reiko's twin did not look up from her dinner.

"Surely you don't believe that stupid curse?!"

Misaki still did not look up.

"What curse? And why won't you speak Misaki?" Kouichi demanded, glancing in horror at his wife, who had paused in the middle of taking a bite.

"The curse of class three!" Reiko explained, flustered, "This bitch, Akazawa, has made her non-existent or something. She said she had to because-"

"Otherwise the calamity would begin." Mei interrupted, her face as expressionless as cold marble.

"Y-yes…" Reiko stammered nervously.

"B-but, if she has been chosen then-" Kouichi muttered to his wife.

"She will just have to bear it. It is too late to be changed now." Mei confirmed.

"Wait, you don't mean… you both believe in it?" Reiko gasped, staring at her parents in open-mouthed shock.

"Twenty years ago, we too were in class three. Back then, I was the non-existent student." Mei told her children sadly.

"Until I spoke to her." Their father butted in, "And from then on, we were both ignored by the class."

"So… you mean… it's true then? If Misaki is spoken to, students will die?"

"Not only students, but family members as well." Kouichi corrected her.

"Did… did students die in your year?" Reiko asked quietly.

Neither adult spoke.

"Mum, dad?"

"It's late." Mei whispered.

She stood up and began clearing away the plates, ignoring the heaps of uneaten food and leaving the room without another word.

"Dad! Answer me!" Reiko shouted.

"Just leave it Reiko!" Misaki shouted, exasperated.

"M-Misaki? Y-you just spoke to me…"

The loud crash of a plate smashing sounded from the kitchen.

"It has begun." Mei whispered.

* * *

**I know it all hapened really quickly, but it's not going to be a long fiction, so I thought there was no point in delaying the inevitable... review please:)**


	2. Chapter 2

"So, the countermeasure's already failed huh?" Kouichi asked Misaki sadly.

"Um, yeah… dad, is it really true? Will people really die now that I exist again?"

Sakakibara sighed. "Yes. I wish I could tell you not to worry about it, but I can't. Now that there is an extra student once more, the Calamity will begin."

"I was thinking dad; is it mine and Reiko's fault? Because we spoke to each other? Will our classmates die because of us?" Misaki looked hopefully to her father for reassurance.

"No, of course not. If anything, it was the fault of the person who picked you for not thinking it through better. How could two twins living under the same roof go a year ignoring each other? Such stupidity." Kouichi told her, disgusted. "But don't worry yet, some years the Calamity does not happen anyway; we can still hope."

_**Sakakibara's POV: **__Whoever had chosen my daughter to become non-existent had a screw loose. Surely Mr. Kazaki has more sense than that? But it was irrelevant now. The countermeasure had failed- just as it had in our year, causing the deaths of almost the whole class. What troubled me the most though, was what Mei and I would have to do if the Calamity did begin._

_Would we leave town and risk the deaths of our whole family while we tried to leave? Would we ignore the signs and continue as if everything were normal? Or would we help the twins end it once it had begun? The only option I felt comfortable choosing was the last one but there was one problem. Neither Mei nor I could remember anything other than the main facts of the Calamity twenty years ago._

_We knew who had died, we knew how they had died, and we knew who the extra person had been, but other than that, our memories had failed us…_

_**Mei's POV: **__I smiled sadly at my two daughters as I handed them their lunches. Sakakibara still had hope that the Calamity would not begin this year, but I knew that there was no hope. Reiko had already told us that they had been a desk short on the first day- a sure sign that there was an extra student in the class._

_It also meant that the extra was definitely a student this year, not a teacher as it had been twenty years ago. The question was how to solve the problem…_

"Should we tell them Misaki? About the failure of the countermeasure? After all, Akazawa might have a solution to-"

"No." Misaki interrupted, "There's still the chance that it hasn't failed yet. And anyway, the whole class would only hate us for breaking the measure."

"…You're right. We'll just continue as if nothing has happened."

"Right. You walk ahead to make it look like you're ignoring me."

Reiko nodded and sped up, leaving her twin sister far behind.

* * *

"No matter why we're doing it, I do feel sorry for Misaki." Seiki, the girl who sat on Reiko's other side, muttered to her.

"Yeah… it's tough for her." Reiko whispered back guiltily.

"Do you even believe in the curse? It all seems a bit dramatic to me. Especially since the Calamity was avoided last year- maybe it doesn't even happen these days? Maybe someone stopped it altogether?"

"I don't know…" Reiko grimaced, "Maybe we should ask someone?"

"Yeah, I heard about this old man who lives on the edge of town who worked at Yomiyama North all his life, maybe he knows something?"

"Maybe… we should go find him after school?" Reiko suggested.

"Yeah okay, I'll text my mum now." Seiki agreed.

* * *

"Where did you say his house was?"

"Umm, number 138 I think… it's the last on the street."

"So that would make it… this one?"

Reiko and Seiki stopped outside the run-down old shack labeled 138. Nervously, they walked up the short drive and rapped on the door.

No answer.

They knocked louder, but still no reply.

"Hello? Are you looking for Chibiki Tatsuji?" a quiet voice sounded from behind them.

"Um, yes. Who are you?" Seiki asked.

"I am Matsunaga Katsumi. And you two are?"

"I'm Mochizuki Seiki, and this is Sakakibara Misaki. We really need to find Chibiki, do you know where he is?"

"Sakakibara? I've heard those names somewhere before… wait… you aren't Kouichi's daughter are you?"

"Um, yes, you know my dad?"

"Yeah, and your mother too if I'm correct. She's Misaki Mei right?"

"Yeah, how do you know my parents?"

"Oh, I haven't seen them in years! Not since the Calamity twenty years ago. And you father is… um, Yuuya!"

"Yeah, that's right."

"I knew it! My memory always was my finest point! In fact, in all my years there's only been one who-" The old man began to suddenly shake, his pupils becoming extremely dilated.

"Alright, alright, enough now, where do we find Chibiki?" Seiki interrupted impatiently.

"Sorry." Katsumi was suddenly back to normal, "He's recently been admitted to hospital. Chibiki's my neighbor, so I saw him taken by the ambulance two days ago."

"Okay, thanks for your help."

"Yeah, and tell your parents I said hi."

* * *

Having asked for Chibiki's room at the front desk, Misaki and Seiki jumped in the elevator to take them to floor three. The doors slid open, and the two girls hurried down the corridor to ward 23.

"We're here to see Chibiki Tatsuji." Misaki told the nurse in the ward.

"I see. Last bed on the right then." She pointed at the far bed.

They approached slowly. The bed the nurse had pointed to was separated from the rest of the room by a long, blue curtain.

"Um… Chibiki Tatsuji?" Seiki asked.

"Yes. That's me. Who's there?"

"It's, um, Sakakibara Misaki and Mochizuki Seiki. Can we ask you some questions, please?"

"The children of Kouichi and Yuuya, yes? And yes, you may."

"Yes, that's right… and thank you."

They parted the curtain and approached the bed cautiously.

"It's about the curse of ninth grade class three." Seiki began.

"I'll stop you there." Chibiki interjected. "I first have two questions for you. One: you two are in class three?"

They nodded.

"I see. And two: do you believe?"


	3. Chapter 3

"So, you want to know about the curse huh?"

The girls nodded.

"Well, there's a lot to tell you. First, has a countermeasure been put in place?" He asked.

"Yeah, my sister is the non-existent student." Reiko told him guiltily.

"Well in that case it's probably already been broken. Making two sisters ignore each other. What stupidity!"

The two girls waited for him to continue.

"First, you need to know why. Every year, an extra student appears in class three. They are always one desk short, even though the classroom was prepared for enough students. It is this extra student that causes the calamity, and so to counteract this, class three has always ignored one student, therefore putting the class back to its normal size."

He paused to check the girls' reactions.

"I'm guessing you also want to know how to break the curse? Well I can't tell you. Part of the curse is that all memory of the extra student in that year disappears after the class graduate, although we can tell who the extra was by looking at previous records once the year is over."

"So, the curse has been broken before?" Seiki asked excitedly.

"Yes. But only three times. The first time it was broken by my neighbour, Katsumi. The second time was in your parents' year, and the curse was broken by Kouichi and Misaki, and the third time was six years ago. In the last two of these years almost the whole class died."

"But there must be some clue as to how we break the curse!" Reiko asked desperately.

"You'll have to ask one of the students who broke the curse." Chibiki told them sadly. "And before I forget, you-"

He suddenly started choking, reaching out a wrinkly hand to grab onto Reiko. She gasped, but did not pull away out of pity for the old man.

"G-get- nurse-" He choked.

Seiki ran down the corridor to find a nurse, leaving Reiko and Chibiki alone behind the curtain. His breathing was worsening by the second, and his eyes were almost popping out of his skull. His fist tightened around Reiko's arm and he gasped for air one last time. Then he fell, limp, to the bed…

* * *

"He said the curse was broken six years ago..." Seiki mused on the way home. "That was my cousins year. Now that I think about it, I do remember there being a lot of deaths that year. Well, I'll ring him tonight and ask about it." She decided.

"The other time it was broken by my parents," Reiko said, "So I'll ask them tonight."

"Yeah, maybe I should ask my dad too, he might know something about it."

"Good idea, but I don't think we should ask that Katsumi unless we really have to. He doesn't look like he can remember much more than his own name."

Seiki giggled.

"That's our plan then. We'll ask around, then try and break this curse while all of the class is still alive!"

They nodded, determined, before parting ways to go home.

* * *

"Where's Misaki?" Reiko asked, kicking her shoes off and hanging up her coat.

"She went to the shop for some rice." Her mum shouted back.

_This is perfect! I need to ask now while my sisters out! _Reiko thought.

"Um, mum, dad, can I ask you both something?"

"Sure honey," Kouichi smiled, "Ask away!"

"Well, I've heard something about the curse, that it can be broken when it's already begun." Reiko began nervously.

"Ah."

"I see." Mei muttered. "I want to tell you, but I can't."

Kouichi turned to his wife. "You know as well as I do that it's begun. Misaki became existent on the first day! Sooner or later someone is gonna die! We have to tell them!"

"But you must remember what happened twenty years ago? It even happened recently- someone tried to end it, and ended up getting almost the whole class killed!" Mei shouted back.

"I think we can trust Reiko not to tell everyone. It was only because of that baka we were friends with that everyone began trying to kill you!"

"…I know." Mei finally gave in.

Kouichi turned back to his daughter. "The truth is, I couldn't even begin to tell you how we did it. All I know is that we found the answer on an old tape. It was hidden by the previous curse-breaker, and we found it. I also have a feeling we added something to it, but what I don't know. So what you've got to do is find the tape and listen to what it says. That'll tell you how to stop the calamity."

* * *

"I spoke to my cousin last night." Seiki whispered.

"I spoke to my parents too." Reiko replied.

"But my cousin couldn't remember anything, and my dad wouldn't talk about it."

"Well I had more luck." Reiko smiled, "We have to find this clue. It's like a tape or something that'll tell us how to end the calamity."

"Where is the tape?" Seiki asked excitedly.

"I have no idea. But we should start in the old class three room..."


	4. Chapter 4

"We've been searching for hours now! Maybe it's been thrown out or something?"

"No, this classroom hasn't been cleared out in years! Look at all the shit lying around!"

"You're right." Seiki sighed.

The girls had gone after school to search the old class three room, but had had to fight through a mountain of old chairs, desks and general junk no-one wanted. Three hours later they had scoured the place- but still hadn't found the tape.

"Hmm, the hider must have put it somewhere easy to find… but somewhere not just anyone would come across it…" Reiko muttered to herself. "Maybe… in here?"

She flung open the doors of an old cupboard, and immediately jumped back, coughing form the explosion of dust.

"Bloody hell!" She cursed, still choking.

"Is it there?" Seiki asked impatiently.

"Hang on, I haven't even looked yet!"

Reiko peered into the dark cupboard, scanning all the dark corners with narrowed eyes. Then she saw a little package, wrapped in old brown paper.

"I think I might have it!" she announced triumphantly.

"Finally! We've only been searching the hours!" Reiko replied sarcastically.

Reiko glared at her before beginning to carefully unravel the disintegrated paper.

"Well, this is it. Now we just need a tape player." Seiki moaned.

"That's easy; my mum still listens to tapes. She's got a collection of them at home. Says she can't find the same music on CDs or iTunes so-"

"Okay, okay! Can we go now?"

Reiko thought. "Probably best not to listen to it while my sister's home. We're the only ones who know about the tape right?"

"Yeah, you're right," Seiki agreed, "Let's just keep it between the two of us… but Reiko?"

"Yeah?"

"I've been wondering, has the countermeasure been broken? Because you're acting like it has, but you never actually told me for definite so I thought…" She trailed off, waiting for Reiko's response.

The brown-haired girl sighed. "Yeah, it has. But it was my fault, not Misaki's, before you blame her for this."

"Oh… so the deaths will start soon then?"

"I guess so, yeah."

"Then we'd better listen to this tape as soon as possible, I suppose." Seiki muttered, half to herself.

"Come round tomorrow straight from school, I think my sister's going to this appointment at the hospital so the house should be free." Reiko offered.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay."

* * *

"Reiko!" Misaki shouted to her sister. "Are you ready to go yet?!"

"Okay, I'll be down in a sec!" Reiko shouted back.

She had just succeeded in taking the tape player from her mum's room, and was now hiding it under her bed ready for Seiki's visit after school.

"Coming!" She shouted, running down the stairs.

"Whoa!" Kouichi cried, as he was bowled over by his daughter, "Careful!"

"Oops, sorry dad!" Reiko called over her shoulder, running out of the house and down the street.

"Where're you going so quickly?" Misaki shouted to her.

"To meet Seiki!" Reiko called back, "You know we can't be seen together!"

Misaki nodded sadly. Ever since she had become non-existent in class, her only friend had been Reiko, but now even her twin had found someone else she would rather be with, and Misaki was all alone.

Reiko dashed ahead, already late to meet her friend who should be already waiting for her on the corner of her road. As she neared the corner, panting from running so far, Reiko saw that Seiki, who was normally on time if not early, wasn't even there yet! She checked her watch: 8:17- they normally met at ten past, if not earlier. Where was she?

"Reiko!" A voice shouted from across the street. "Reiko! Sorry I'm late!"

It was Seiki. She was charging down the street, a slice of half-eaten toast in one hand and a carton of orange juice in the other.

"I only woke up ten minutes ago!" She shouted, still running as fast as she could. "My alarm clock broke so I had to- ahhAHH!"

"Seiki! _Seiki!_ Oh my god! SEIKI!"

The slice of toast previously clutched in Seiki's hand went flying through the air and landed the road a few feet away. Reiko ran, heart pounding, towards her best friend, who now lay limply across the bonnet of a car.

"Seiki! Answer me! Wake up! Seiki! Please! Seiki…"

The driver got numbly out of the car and briefly inspected the body on his bonnet before pulling out his phone and dialling an ambulance. But Reiko was not paying any attention to what he was doing. She was too busy staring, frozen in both body and mind, at the dead body before her.

* * *

**And so it begins... reviews please:)**


	5. Chapter 5

"Um, Reiko?" Misaki whispered.

Reiko did not reply, instead staring numbly at the wall.

"You haven't even touched your lunch."

Reiko still did not speak.

Misaki sighed. Ever since Seiki's death two days ago, life had been even worse for Misaki. Not only was she being ignored, but now she felt the hatred of the whole class directed towards her, even if they could not speak to her. To add to this, now even Reiko had given up talking to her, although she refused to talk to anybody, let alone Misaki, who she had begun to blame for her best friend's death.

* * *

The twins were walking home silently, side by side. No matter how many times Misaki attempted to start a conversation, Reiko still would not speak. But then, suddenly, she turned to her twin.

"There's something we have to listen to." She whispered croakily- her throat dry from two days worth of crying.

"W-what do you mean?" Misaki whispered back.

"A tape. Me and Seiki found it. It's supposed to tell you how to break the curse, but we never got round to listening to it, a-and now-" Reiko broke off as her throat began to close up and her eyes began to water.

"Okay, I understand. Where is the tape? If you want, I'll just listen. If it's going to be too hard on you, that is." Misaki offered.

"No, no I want to listen. We'll do it now, before mum and dad get home."

Misaki nodded, relived to once again have the company of her sister.

With trembling hands, Reiko slotted the tape into her mother's old tape player, and pressed play. A quiet ticking was all that could be heard. And then a crackle. And then the tape burst into life.

The twins listened as a familiar voice told the story of how his class went into the mountains to pray, how two students died on the way down, and how he killed one of them. The tape also went on to tell of how the student he killed was not remembered by the rest of the lass, and that the reason for that is because the student was the extra.

A low crackling began to sound as the tape neared its end, but it was not loud enough to block the final words.

"Send the dead back to death."

Click.

Silence filled the room.

"W-we have to k-kill…" Misaki breathed.

"The dead student." Reiko finished for her.

Neither spoke.

"There might be something on the other side of the tape… we should…"

At her sister's words, Misaki ejected the plastic file and turned it over. She took a deep breath before pressing play.

"Uh, hello. Um, my name is Sakakibara Kouichi and if you are listening to this, you are probably in class three. The first thing you should know is that it was _not_ murder. It _is_ not murder. To kill a dead person is- is not a sin…" The voice of the twin's father paused. "But it still pains me, to this day. Twenty years ago, the calamity was stopped. We lost over two thirds of the class in the attempt, but it _was_ stopped. I won't go into all the details- chances are you listened to the other side first. If not, turn this over, then come back. My story will make more sense if you do."

Kouichi sighed. "A few days ago, we listened to this tape. It told us how to end it; how to stop it. The class had a scheduled trip to the mountains that summer, to try and stop the curse. Only me and a few others knew of the way to end it. But when we were there, one _baka _announced over the loud speaker just how to do it. They also told the whole class th-that Mei was the extra student. Again, I won't go into the details, but needless to say, everyone started trying to kill her after that."

Misaki glanced at her twin, who was staring, aghast, at the tape player.

"When Mei finally worked out that *beep* was the extra person, she went out back to try a-and end it. B-but I-I-"

"If you're not going to finish then I'll just say it." The voice of Mei cut across him. "I had known *beep* was the extra for a long time, but didn't tell anyone- what good would it have done? When I found out how to stop the curse, I went after *beep* and eventually found her. Cut a long story short, Kouichi felt guilty and decided her would have to kill his *beep* himself. Calamity over. Very few left. End of story."

"R-right. Thanks Mei," Kouichi came back in, "What I really wanted to say is, don't tell anyone about this. The need to survive and the possibility of death turns even the most sensible into a psychopath. End it quickly, but end it alone."

Click.

Reiko looked down at her hands.

"Send the dead back to death… and don't tell anyone…"

* * *

**Okay, short chapter, but you obviously already know what the first tape said. Will Misaki and reiko be able to end it? Or will their new information leak? Only one way to find out- review and wait for the next chapter;)**


	6. Chapter 6

The next day at school, both Misaki and Reiko were on the lookout for someone showing any signs of being dead. However it only took until lunch hour for them to admit defeat.

"There's no way to tell." Misaki grumbled into her bento, "Everyone seems alive and normal. How are we ever going to work out who is dead?"

Reiko shrugged. "I wonder how mum and dad worked out who was dead. The tape said mum knew for ages who it was, I wonder how she could tell?"

Misaki frowned, "Wait…"

She paused, and Reiko looked at her curiously.

"I need to listen to the tape again to be sure but… surely not…"

"What? Misaki, tell me now!" Reiko stressed.

"I've just thought of something…"

"Tell me already!"

"I-I think the extra person in dad's year was- was his aunty Reiko…"

Reiko did not say anything for a while.

"Why do you think that?" She finally whispered.

"Because, on the tape, mum said: 'kill _his_ something' no student in that class was related to him in any way, and it couldn't have been 'his girlfriend' or 'his best friend' because we also know that mum was both of those things. Didn't dad say his aunty was a second homeroom teacher that year?"

"Umm yeah," Reiko nodded unsurely.

"But he also said he had an aunty who died a year before he went to Yomiyama North. I've never put them both together before but… when I think about it, his dad was an only child, and his mum only had one sister…"

"So that must mean dad killed…?"

"His own aunty, yes." Misaki finished, her voice low and dramatic.

Neither twin spoke.

"He also said that about two thirds of the class was killed as a result of people finding out about the tape." Reiko muttered.

"So we really need to keep this between us." Misaki paused, "And we need to end this quickly, before anyone else goes the same way as Seiki."

She realised what she had said, and immediately regretted her words as Reiko began to tear up.

"Reiko! I'm sorry, I didn't think! Don't be mad at me, I'm sorry!"

But it was already too late; Reiko picked up her lunch and left the table, sitting down instead, alone, at one across the room.

* * *

That night, Reiko holed herself up in her room and refused to come out. Mei took her tea up to her room and left it outside the door, but an hour later it still had not been touched.

"Leave it Mei, she'll come out when she's ready." Kouichi told his wife kindly.

"Dad, where are all the old photo albums?" Misaki asked casually.

"Um, I think they're in the loft honey, why?"

"Because our class is doing about generations and stuff, and I need to take some old photos in from two generations in my family." Misaki lied quickly.

"Oh, I see. Well I'll get the ladder down and you can look through the boxes upstairs if you want." Kouichi offered.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Misaki was sorting through the old photo albums- laying them out in date order. Quickly flicking through the ones of her dad when he was young, she decided there was nothing worth looking at in them. The next one was slightly more interesting though- there were several pictures of her father with his aunt. Misaki removed one and set it aside.

The next album was even better. In this one, there were pictures from Reiko's funeral. One of these was also put aside. Systematically going through each one of her dads, Misaki managed to find photos that would help in her quest: the two previously mentioned, one of the class at the beginning, one of seven students and Reiko at the beach, and a graduation picture.

Next were Mei's albums. As soon as she opened the first book, a picture caught her attention. It was of two baby twins- one with black hair and one with brown- both held by a woman who looked a lot like her grandmother. This was added to the pile. The rest of the album was boring- but when Misaki opened the next, a stray photo fell out.

It was of her mother and another girl, and was from one of those photo machines you get at a fair that takes multiple pictures and prints them out in a row. The other girl looked exactly like Mei, but had brown hair- not black. Misaki frowned. _Who was this other girl?_

Adding the picture to the pile, Misaki opened the next album, and the next, but found nothing more of the mysterious girl- only photos of her mother, and eventually of herself and Reiko.

Next was the box of her grandmother's photos. _Maybe these would hold some clues._

Almost immediately, she found what she was looking for: a picture of the twin babies. This time, her grandmother was present in the scene, and was holding one of the girls. Nothing more was interesting in this box, and so finally, Misaki turned to the last box: the photos from her father's grandparents. These showed her grandmother and great Aunt Reiko as children and teenagers, including a graduation photo from 1972, before finally there were some from a funeral- presumably Kouichi's mother.

Interestingly, Reiko seemed to be around the age Misaki was now. This photo was also set aside. On the next few pages were pictures of Reiko's graduation, (her class was noticeably small,) and university years. Misaki turned the page. Reiko was photographed with a class of students in Yomiyama North uniforms; a board held by one student read 'ninth grade, class three'. This was the last photo to be removed from its sleeve. Misaki packed the albums away and headed downstairs.

"Reiko?" she called through her sister's door.

No reply.

"I've found something you might want to see…"

There was a few seconds pause, and then Reiko opened her door. Her eyes red from crying, she stood back to let Misaki in, before shutting her door once more.

Misaki spread the pictures on the bed. "Look what I found…"

* * *

**Thanks to those reviewers, keep reading! I know this chapter was a but boring, but the twons don't actually know the whole story yet, so bear with me while I fill them in- the next chapter should be a bit more interesting! As always, review please:D**


	7. Chapter 7

"So you think mum had a twin?" Misaki asked in a hushed voice.

"Yeah, and what's more, I think they were separated at birth!" Reiko replied dramatically.

The earlier tension between the sisters had dissipated due to the excitement of new evidence, and now it was like nothing had ever come between them.

"Should we ask her about it?" Misaki suggested.

"No, it'll only cause awkward questions, and anyway, she won't tell us anything- you know what mum's like when it comes to death!" Reiko said decidedly.

"Well, let's listen to the tape again- we might find some clues in that!" Misaki said.

"Right, it's under here…"

They listened to the tape, but found nothing new, although it did confirm that their father's aunty was the extra.

Misaki sighed. "Nothing."

"Nope, nothing." Reiko agreed.

"Well, better wrap this back up. What should we do with it anyway?"

Misaki began to wrap the tape up in the old brown paper, when suddenly she gasped.

"What? What is it?" Reiko asked.

"Look!" Misaki showed her the underside of the paper. "How did we not see this before?"

The paper, that had been previously folded in half, had now come undone, to reveal writing on the inside.

"It's very hard to make out," Reiko complained, "Get a pen and some paper, and we'll write it up."

Misaki did as she was asked, and before long, the old words had been copied to a new sheet:

_1998: Izumi Akazawa  
Misaki Fujioka  
Yukari Sakuragi  
Sanae Mizuno  
Ikuo Takabayashi  
Junta Nakao  
Aya Ayano  
Shoji Kubodera (and mother)  
Kenzou Kawahori  
Ryoko Akiyama  
Jun Hamaguchi  
Yuki Hoshikawa  
Atsushi Ogura  
Mieko Sakuragi_

These names were all listed, along with the cause of their death. At the bottom of the list was a smudge, with the cause described as 'killed'. This, Misaki reasoned, must have said 'Reiko Fujioka', and so Reiko wrote the name down on their new list.

Beneath the list on the original paper was a brief explanation of what had happened, although every time Reiko was mentioned, a smudge hid the name. The most interesting part of the note, however, was a quickly scribbled sentence in different handwriting.

_'2010: there is no way to stop the curse. You can only delay it. In the years that the curse was 'stopped,' the deaths just happened a year later. The class of 1972 has done this- Misaki was brought back and now death wants payment. Do not kill the dead. Convince them.'_

"Should I copy that too?" Reiko asked unsurely.

"Yeah, better had, although I have no idea what it means!" Misaki said.

Reiko wrote it down. "Do you think the list is of the people who died in 1998?" Reiko asked.

"Yeah, but that's no where near two thirds; everyone has been exaggerating!"

"Well maybe more of them _nearly _died- there's bound to be some that were injured after all!"

Misaki merely nodded. "That list doesn't help us at all, but the note at the bottom might be an important clue." She pointed to a particular line, "What do you think this means?"

"Death wants payment." Reiko read, "Do not kill the dead. Convince them." She thought. "Well, I'm guessing 'death wants payment' means that 'death' wants lives in return for this Misaki person who came back. The next bit obviously means we shouldn't kill the dead person, or the next year's calamity will be worse, but 'convince them'? I don't know about that."

"Maybe we have to convince them to kill themselves?" Misaki suggested.

"No, that's just the same as killing them. Or maybe we have to convince them to stop the killings?"

"But they aren't the cause of the killings, and the clearly don't know that they are dead."

Reiko nodded. "Well, I think we should find out more about this Misaki anyway- we need to find someone from the class of 1972 to ask."

"1972… that was grandma's year!" Misaki said.

"You're right- so we just need to find someone… were there any graduation photos from her year?" Reiko asked.

Misaki rummaged through the photo pile and pulled out the 1972 graduation picture. It was clear which one was Kouichi's mother, but there was no-one else that they recognised.

"Wait, look at that!" Reiko exclaimed, pointing to a boy whose face was almost translucent.

"You don't think…?"

"Yeah! That's got to be him! Look how pale he is!"

"You could be on to something… I tell you what, tomorrow, in our lunch hour, we'll go to the library and look him up on the old school records- then we can be sure." Misaki said.

The next day saw them sat in front of the ancient school computers scrolling through countless years'  
data. When they got to 2010, Reiko stopped scrolling and looked at the amount of people who died.

"Okay, so 9 died this year, and the deaths stopped after October." She said.

"Right, go back to 2011." Misaki instructed her twin.

"Okay, hang on… here we go." They both studied the screen intently.

"So there were… 14 deaths in this class… wow that's a lot!" Misaki exclaimed.

"Yeah, write this down."

Misaki wrote down the two years and the number of deaths in each one.

"Okay, next year is 1999; the one after dad's year."

Reiko went to that year.

"Write down 7 deaths."

Misaki did so, and Reiko moved to 1998.

"Right, this is dad's year… it's the same people that were written on that piece of paper. So write down 14 deaths, and that the deaths stopped in August."

"But there were fewer deaths the year after, so how can the deaths that were prevented have happened in that year?" Misaki asked, confused.

"One minute, we'll look at the numbers when we've finished this!" Reiko said, annoyed.

"Right, sorry… so go to…1983. That was the year after Reiko's."

Reiko did, and saw that there were 9 deaths that year, the first 7 of which happened every month from April to October, and the last two happened in February and March. In 1982, Reiko's year, there were 8 deaths that stopped in August, in 1973, the first year of the calamity, there were 12 deaths, one in every month of the year, and in 1972 there was 1: Misaki Yomiyama.

"Found him!" Reiko exclaimed. "If I click on his name here… bingo."

The computer brought up the records for Misaki, including his picture from 7th grade. There was no doubt about it. He was the boy from the photograph.

* * *

**Sorry for a boring chapter, a lot of things had to be explained:) Review please:D**


	8. Chapter 8

Misaki glanced at her clock. One in the morning. She would really have to get to sleep. Quickly jotting down what she had found out, she clicked off her night light and closed her eyes. However five minutes later she turned it back on again; there was no way she could get to sleep with all the information she had uncovered buzzing round her head. Misaki decided to write up her findings clearly, so it would be easier for her to explain to Reiko the next morning.

Meanwhile, Kouichi and Mei also sat awake discussing in hushed voices what they were going to do about the calamity.

"I won't leave it to chance Mei; if someone else dies we are leaving Yomiyama. I won't have the same thing happen to them what happened to you eighteen years ago!"

Mei did not reply, letting Kouichi know that the comment about the death of her twin had not gone down well. He sighed.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. But you must be worrying too, you know as well as I do that the calamity has begun. I suppose the question is: _can _we leave?"

"You know we can't." Mei's voice was cold and hard- she was upset with Kouichi for bringing her sister into this, but at the same time knew he hadn't meant to hurt her. "Remember the girl that tried to leave in our year? Her whole family was killed in a road accident. It's less risky to stay."

"But Mei!" Kouichi protested "We left Yomiyama once, don't you remember? When we went to the beach?"

"And you know why we weren't killed don't you?" Mei asked coldly, "Because your aunty was driving the car. And anyway, Nakao died on that trip-"

"That wasn't because of-"

"You know it was! If he had stayed in Yomiyama he might still be alive today!" Mei shouted over her husband. "We're not leaving. I won't die. I won't let my family die. We are staying and that's final."

Kouichi sighed. He knew his wife was right, but he wasn't about to just sit back and watch as a student died each month for the rest of the school year- it was only April! There were 11 months and at least 11 deaths to go!

The next morning, Reiko was woken by a faint hiss. She blinked open her eyes and nearly died in shock to see Misaki mere inches from her face!

"Misaki! What are you-"

"Shh!" Misaki scolded her, "Mum and dad are still asleep!"

Reiko snapped her mouth shut and frowned at Misaki.

"Why are you waking me up so early?" she whispered aggressively.

"Because I want to show you this before mum and dad wake up." Misaki whispered back.

Reiko sighed. Her sister had been overly enthusiastic about 'solving the problem' of the curse ever since the day she had shown her the tape. Almost wishing she had kept it to herself, Reiko eyed the folder in Misaki's hands suspiciously.

"What's that?" She asked.

"Ah, now…" Misaki laid the folder on Reiko's lap. "This is my folder of all the information we've gathered so far. Including…" she flicked to a page near the end, "This!"

Triumphantly, she flipped the page round so it was facing her twin and puffed out her chest as Reiko processed the information.

"…What is this?"

Misaki's shoulders sagged as she sighed at her sister's stupidity.

"Look here," she pointed to the start of what looked like a complicated graph, "This is 1972- the year the curse began- in this year, there was one death: Misaki." He trailed her finger along to the next figure. "1973: 12 deaths one in every month."

"Misaki we already have this information! You've just copied up what we already know!" Reiko said, exasperated.

"I haven't finished yet." Misaki said coldly. "Now here is where it gets interesting. 1998- 14 deaths ending in August. That leaves 7 months left in the school year right?"

Reiko nodded.

"And in 1999 there were 7 deaths!" Misaki aid proudly.

But Reiko dismissed the idea immediately: "Coincidence."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong! 1982- 8 deaths ending at August, and in 1983, there was a death every month for the first 7 months, and no more deaths until the last two months of the school year!"

Reiko merely looked at her blankly.

"Don't you get it? If the curse is stopped mid-year, then the deaths that were avoided that year will happen next year regardless of whether the countermeasure is broken! And the last two deaths of 1983… well I can't be sure, but I think that's to do with when the non-existent student was spoken to. We'd have to ask someone to be sure though…"

For the first time, Reiko actually started to listen to her twin's theory. _Misaki might be on to something here! _She thought. _But the only way to prove it is to ask someone form the class of 1983. If the countermeasure was indeed broken in February, then it proves Misaki is right._

"Girls? Are you awake?" Mei called from the landing.

"Yes!" Misaki and Reiko chorused.

"We'll continue this later." Reiko hissed.

Reiko stood by the school gates, watching Misaki's retreating back as she walked away down the path. She sighed- Misaki could be so impatient sometimes! She was only five minutes late!

"Hey, Reiko!"

The black haired girl spun around, startled. "Yes?"

"There's someone looking for you!"

Kotoya Kei was running full speed towards her, waving his arms like a lunatic. Reiko sighed. _Let me guess: Kouri again?_

He finally reached her and doubled over, panting.

"Spit it out then!" Reiko shouted.

"Ah! I'm not going to spoil the surprise for you Reiko-chan! But I heard a rumour about you liking a certain someone and, well…" Kei tapped the side of his nose and winked knowingly. "You'll just have to find out for yourself. He's waiting behind the new block for you."

Reiko's mind was buzzing excitedly. _Was he telling the truth? Did he really know who she liked? And more importantly: had he arranged for them to meet?_ The love-struck teen was almost giddy with anticipation. _Was he really there?_

There was only one way to know: go there and see.

"You leave me no choice Kei." She sighed, faking annoyance with her irritating classmate, although inside she was soaring.

Reiko made her way to the new block, hardly daring to believe what she had been told. Five steps. Four steps. Three. Two. _It wasn't too late to turn back…_

One step…

…

* * *

**I am really, really sorry for not updating in ages- I've had so much on! If you're still reading this then thanks so much:) I'll try and update faster in the future! Also, review please^.^**


	9. Chapter 9

**Reiko made her way to the new block, hardly daring to believe what she had been told. Five steps. Four steps. Three. Two. ****_It wasn't too late to turn back…_**

**One step…**

**…**

Reiko rounded the corner of the new block and saw the silhouette, slouched casually against the brick wall.

"Um…"

The boy turned to look at her… _It was him! Kei had been telling the truth! My crush had come to meet me! Maybe even declare his undying love for me!_

"Erm, have you got a message from Kotoya-san or something?"

"Sorry?" had she heard wrong?

"Did Kotoya send you here to tell me something?" the boy spelt it out as if she was thick. "He was supposed to be meeting me here now, is he still coming?"

The bubble popped.

_When I see Kei…!_

"Err," Reiko thought fast, "No, I was supposed to be meeting him here too… err…"

"I see… I wonder what he wants with us… Reiko-san."

Reiko's heart skipped a beat! He had called her by her given name! although he had been in her class for three years now, he had never once addressed her in such a familiar way- could it mean his feelings towards her had shifted?

"Uh, yeah… should we wait, or…?"

The boy shot her a strange look.

"Why would we not?"

"Um… in case he… doesn't turn up?"

As soon as she said it Reiko knew it sounded stupid, and this was only reiterated when he did not reply.

What seemed like an eternity later, but was probably only a minute or two, Reiko finally gathered the courage to explain why she was really there.

"Uh…" should she use his given name? Hell- why not? "Tomoki-san?"

"Yes?"

"I-I'm not really meeting Kei-san here…"

Tomoki looked up curiously.

"Umm, he said someone was meeting me here, and so I came but…"

"You found me here instead?" Tomoki finished for her.

"Yes… I mean no! I mean…"

"To tell you the truth I had a hunch he would pull something like this. He's been talking about some girl who likes me all day- I'm sorry you got caught up in all of this, there must have been some mistake."

With that, Tomoki began to walk away, leaving a downcast Reiko feeling deflated and depressed.

"Say, Reiko-san, you live north of here right?" Tomoki suddenly turned back to her.

"Yeah, why?" Reiko asked.

"I see you walking that way most nights, with your twin. You don't fancy walking home with me tonight do you? It's just the boy I normally walk with will have gone by now…?"

"Sure!" Reiko beamed, overjoyed by the turn of events.

Tomoki smiled and the two set off home, strolling leisurely and chatting.

"So what's it like to have a twin then?" Tomoki asked. "I have a younger brother but that's different."

"It's good at some times, but not so good at others. We argue quite a lot, but never badly. And I never knew you had a brother, what year is he in?" Reiko replied.

"Seventh grade." Tomoki answered.

"Oh? I've never seen the two of you together?"

"Yeah… I don't think he likes me much- he never really speaks to me. In fact, most nights he just shits himself up in his room and doesn't come out."

"Oh." Reiko said awkwardly. "Have you always been… distant?" She asked, unsure of how to keep the conversation moving.

"No, we used to be really close, until he moved to Yomiyama North." Tomoki's tone changed, and Reiko instantly knew to drop the subject.

"So who do you walk home with normally? I never see you down this way?"

"I don't usually come this side of the river- normally I cross the bridge back there with Hikaru."

"So why are you…?"

"Because it's only polite to walk a lady home, am I right?" He replied smoothly.

Reiko blushed. "You don't have to you know, my house isn't far from here."

"I know that. But I want to walk you home."

Her face reddened even more.

"Um, thanks…"

"So how are you?" he asked, his voice suddenly becoming very concerned.

"What?"

"It must be hard on you- about Seiki I mean. Are you holding up?"

Reiko's eyes suddenly filled with tears. It had been days since she had last cried- solving the mystery surrounding the calamity had distracted her from the truth, but now a huge wave of anguish and guilt swept over her.

"Whoa!"

Reiko's knees suddenly buckled and were it not for Tomoki catching her, she would have fallen to the floor.

"I'm sorry," Reiko sobbed as she cried into his chest, "I barely know you, it's just…"

"It's okay, I shouldn't have asked. I'm the one who's sorry."

For a few minutes the stayed like that- Reiko crying quietly and Tomoki embracing her. He was warm, and smelt fresh yet musky. Reiko felt safe in the strong arms that held her close to his chest.

When her tears finally ebbed away, Tomoki smiled down at her tear-stained face.

"Do you feel better now?" he asked softly.

"Yeah... thanks." Reiko sniffed.

"Do you… I mean if you don't then that's fine, but do you by any chance want to… go to the beach with me this Sunday? I won two tickets to this fancy holiday place for one day, and I was wondering, since I had no-one else to go with, if…?"

"Sure! I'd love to!" Reiko beamed. Her heart was thumping against her ribcage like it was trying it's hardest to escape.

"That's great! I'll pick you up at… eleven?"

"Okay, great, I'll, um, see you then!"

Tomoki smiled. "I really am sorry for mentioning your friend, but I'll see you on Sunday. See you!"

"Bye, and thanks for walking me!"

"It's fine, I'm just glad Kei set us up, or I would never have gotten to know you!"

Reiko blushed, but smiled as he turned to go. She couldn't believe it- had he just asked her on a date? She mentally squealed. _But wait…_ her parents would never let her go alone- especially at a time like this, with it being the first day of the new month. Maybe she could get Misaki to cover for her?

Reiko hoped beyond all hope her twin would help her out- this was too good an opportunity to miss! Opening the door quietly, Reiko headed straight upstairs to tell Misaki, only to find her pouring over new data.

"Reiko! I've got it!"

* * *

**What has she got? You'll have to wait and see! Reviiiiiieeeeew!:D**


	10. Chapter 10

As it turned out, all Misaki had found out was that her theory was correct. She had interviewed a former student from 1983 at lunch and confirmed that the countermeasure had been broken in February.

Reiko had then filled her in on what had happened to her after school, and Misaki had, at first, been more than happy to help. But now she had turned up at Reiko's door with a pleading look on her face, and her hands clasped.

"What is it Misaki?" Reiko knew full well that her sister wanted something.

"Well, you said Kei-kun set you up right?"

"Yes."

"So he'll probably find out about your beach trip?"

"Maybe… why?"

"Please let me come! I want to meet Kei-kun outside of school! Please!" Misaki begged.

"I don't know… how am I supposed to invite him now, it's Friday?"

"Well, um…" Misaki went suddenly very red.

"What is it?"

"I've been texting him for a while now… and we were just talking about you and Tomoki and, well. It was actually him who suggested we go as well… so if it's okay with you…?"

Reiko sighed. "Fine. But unless things are going badly, you take Kei away, okay?"

"Yes! Thank you Reiko-chan!"

At eleven on Sunday, the twins announced that they were going out with some friends, and waited at the corner of their road for Kei and Tomoki. At five past, the two boys turned up in an unfamiliar car.

"Hey!" Kei called out of his window, "My brother Ryou's gonna drive us there and pick us back up at four!"

"Um, okay." Misaki said. They both climbed in.

Kei was sat in the front next to his brother and the other three were in the back, with Reiko sat between Misaki and Tomoki. The journey there was slightly awkward at first, but before long they were all chatting. Kei's brother turned out to be from Tokyo, where he had moved with his mother when Kei's parents had split up.

_That explains why he sees no problem with taking us out of Yomiyama. _Reiko thought nervously.

As they neared the sign that marked their exiting of the small town, everyone except Ryou tensed, and Reiko, without thinking, grabbed the hands of the two sitting next to her. However they passed without an incident, and everyone instantly relaxed and began to look forward to the day ahead.

"Uh, Reiko, you can let go now…" Misaki said.

"Oh, sorry!" Reiko blushed and tried to pull her hands away from her companions', but while Misaki gladly let go, Tomoki held on tight, which caused Reiko to blush even more.

It was a bright sunny day, which was a blessing considering it was only the start of May, and the four teenagers soon made a comfortable camp under an umbrella near the sea.

"Come into the sea with me?" Kei asked Misaki after they had been sat together for about half an hour.

"Yeah, okay." Misaki agreed, and the two set off running towards the vast ocean

Reiko and Tomoki watched them splashing around for a while, and then Tomoki turned to the girl beside him.

"You know, I've sort of liked you for a while now, Reiko-san…" he began nervously.

"Y-you have?" Reiko replied, unable to believe what she had just heard.

"Yeah, then when you turned up on Friday, I didn't want to embarrass myself in case you weren't there to meet me, so I told you I was waiting for Kei. Then when you said you were too, I wasn't sure whether you actually were there to meet me or not…"

"It was the same with me!" Reiko gushed happily, "Kei told me someone was waiting for me, but when you said you were waiting for Kei I thought I'd look stupid…"

Tomoki smiled. "I'm glad it worked out in the end though… although Kei's a _baka_ for doing it the hard way!"

"I agree!" Reiko smiled back. Her stomach felt as though it was filled with a thousand butterflies!

"Hey, shall we go into the sea as well?" Tomoki asked suddenly.

"Okay, why not!"

They ran happily towards Misaki and Kei, and before long were all laughing and having fun watching Kei's shark impression, and Misaki's reaction when he suddenly grabbed her legs, causing her to fall over and soak her hair.

An hour later they emerged laughing, although they were all soaking wet, and decided to break open the picnic lunch Tomoki had brought for them all.

"This food is delicious!" Kei mumbled through a mouth full of rice, "Did your mum make it?"

"No, I did." Tomoki told him, nodding graciously at the compliment.

"Wow, you're a good cook!" Misaki added, "Do you cook often?"

"Yeah, we all have tea at different times in my house, since my mum and dad both work night shifts, so I cook my own meals."

"Oh, do you cook for your brother as well?" Reiko asked, but mentally kicked herself for bringing up the topic.

"No, although I wish he would let me- he's an awful cook! I used to make his food, but he recently stopped eating it and started to make his own. I think it's a hormone thing." Tomoki joked.

Luckily for Reiko, he didn't seem upset by the mention of his brother this time- _maybe because the other two were around?_

It didn't take long for the food to disappear, and when it did they all helped to pack it away again.

"I wonder where my phone went?" Misaki wondered aloud, I brought I just in case, but I haven't seen it in a while.

"Oh, it's in my bag- you dropped it earlier, I forgot!" Reiko replied, handing her sister the phone.

"Thanks… oh no! I've got twenty missed calls from mum and dad!" Misaki suddenly gasped.

"What?"

This resulted in a scrambling for phones, and soon everyone, except Tomoki, found that they too had massive amounts of missed phone calls from their parents, especially Kei, who's parents seemed to have been calling him continually since about twelve 'o'clock.

Then, Reiko's phone began to buzz.

"Wish me luck."

She picked up the phone.

"Hello? Yes dad. We're fine… No… no, I'm sorry… yes we did go to th beach… but there's four of us! What? Now? What aren't you telling me? Okay… okay… see you in a bit. Bye."

Reiko hung up the phone.

"Misaki, dad's coming for us now, he says he'll give the boys a lift as well. He doesn't sound angry at all- I'm worried."

"Maybe he's just worried about us?" Misaki offered.

Ten minutes later Kouichi turned up to pick them up. He was quiet, and wouldn't look any of them in the eye.

"Kotoya, I'll take you home first, son."

"But you'll be going past Tomoki's house then dad, there's no point!" Misaki began to argue, but Kouichi shot her a '_don't argue'_ look, and she immediately shut up.

"Here you are Kotoya, and, I'm… very sorry…"

Kei frowned. "Bye, everyone…" He waved as the car pulled away before heading inside.

"What was that about dad?" Reiko asked as soon as Kei was out of sight.

Kouichi was silent for a moment. "Kei's brother was driving back from dropping you all at the beach, it happened just inside the Yomiyama border…"

"What did dad?" Misaki asked, panicked, "What happened?"

Kouichi paused again. "He was killed in a car accident…"

* * *

**There are no words. Review please...**


	11. Chapter 11

"Tomoki…"

The dark haired boy said nothing. Reiko tried again.

"Tomoki-kun…"

He still said nothing, and continued to stare, unseeing, at the wall.

"You know it's not your fault Tomoki, we didn't know-"

"Yes we did. We knew," Tomoki whispered, his voice hoarse, "we knew that leaving Yomiyama would trigger the curse. We knew that it was risky. We also knew that Kei's brother was from Tokyo and didn't know about the curse. We knew that he only agreed to take us because he had no idea what would happen if he did!"

Tomoki's voice had been getting progressively louder and louder, and now, as he glared at Reiko, he was almost shouting. His normally warm, brown eyes had become cold and hard, and where they usually reminded Reiko of chocolate and caramel, they were now like cool, sharp metal.

She felt her throat constrict and her lip tremble at his harsh words. She knew what he was saying was true, but something in the back of her mind nagged at her to deny the truth- if only to be allowed some happiness. She bowed her head.

"I know."

One solitary, shining tear rolled slowly over Reiko's pale cheek. Frozen and numb, she made no move to wipe it away.

"Don't cry…" Tomoki murmured, raising a gentle hand to brush away the remnants of Reiko's sorrow, "I'm sorry."

His touch warmed her and, with a sudden bout of confidence, she rested her head on his shoulder. He tensed, but the momentary confusion soon faded and he relaxed into Reiko's embrace, resting his chin on her forehead. Tomoki smelled musky and warm, almost like how Reiko imagined a pine forest would smell if you laid on the leaf-strewn ground and gazed at the sky through the gaps in the trees.

She reached for his hand, but did not hold it, instead resting the side of her pinkie on his thumb. It was the tiniest contact, and with anyone else Reiko would probably not even have noticed, but Tomoki's hand seemed to emit strange electricity that travelled up her arm and made her chest shudder.

For a while they were silent, simply enjoying each other's company. It was if as if they caught in a spell, and the first to speak would be the one to break the perfectly still air and disrupt the peace. Maybe it was because of this then, thought Reiko, that when Tomoki spoke his voice was barely audible, and as hard to capture as a butterfly.

"When my sister died, the house was silent for weeks."

He paused and did not continue for so long that Reiko wondered if that was all he was going to say.

"It was like there were no words that could fill the gap she left, and to try and do so was to dishonour her memory." Another silence. "It was my brother who spoke first. We were all sat around the table in silence, each of us paying attention only to our food, when he looked up and said 'has Ami gone to heaven?'"

Reiko felt her eyes tear up for the second time and she nestled closer to Tomoki in an attempt to comfort him.

"Both my mother and father ignored him, and simply stared at him like he was a ghost. Eventually it was me who replied to him."

"What did you say?" Reiko asked quietly.

"Yes," Tomoki whispered, "All I said was 'yes', but that was enough. The silence was broken. Our grief was lifted like a shroud blowing away in the wind. After that, me and my brother were as close as two peas in a pod. I used to take him swimming on a Sunday morning- he always dreamed of being an Olympic swimmer and winning the gold for Japan. I knew, of course, that he would never be good enough, but I encouraged him, and even paid for his classes with my wages when my parents were away."

"Did... do your parents go away a lot?" Reiko whispered.

"Yes," came the reply, "They travel a lot with work, and being the oldest now Ami is gone I look after him."

"H-how old was Ami when she died?"

"Our age. She died in the ninth grade when I was ten and my brother was seven."

Reiko swallowed the lump that was rising in her throat and took Tomoki's hand in her own. She was dying to ask whether Ami had been in class three, whether he thought it was the calamity that had killed her, but pushed the questions away to the back of her mind. It was a shame that Tomoki and his brother had been so close and were now so distant. She couldn't imagine ever growing apart from Misaki, who had been so much more to her than just her sister ever since they were born. But maybe it was different when you were three years apart? Maybe moving into seventh grade had matured the younger boy in some way?

Reiko frowned.

"Tomoki… I thought you said your brother was two years younger than you, that he was in seventh grade?" she asked, not unkindly, "But just then you said that you were ten and he was seven…"

Tomoki did not reply immediately. "It's funny how the school year sometimes works like that isn't it… I often wonder how it happened that way but my head hurts when I try to fathom the reason. It's funny really…"

* * *

That evening the Sakakibara's ate their meal in silence. Misaki could tell that her mother was disappointed in them both for lying and leaving Yomiyama, but there was no way to lecture the twins without bringing up Kei's brother and so Mei said nothing. The twins cleared away the empty plates in silence, but when they were washing up, the conversation turned to Tomoki.

"I feel sorry for him," Reiko admitted, "he and his brother used to get on really well, but ever since he moved in seventh grade they've hardly spoken. Apparently he doesn't speak to anyone anymore, apart from to say 'thank-you' or answer questions. It's sad, but I wonder what happened to make him so separated from the world."

"Maybe he's being bullied? Sometimes victims get so worried about being noticed by the bullies they sink into themselves, even when they're at home." Misaki suggested thoughtfully.

"You could be right, I wish there was something we could do to help him, it would really make Tomoki happy."

* * *

The next day, Reiko asked for permission to go to the toilet, but instead of heading left, turned right, towards the seventh grade classrooms. She and Misaki had looked up which class Tomoki's brother was in and had agreed to keep secret what they were doing.

"Um, sensei, I need Tsujii Kensaku for, um, the school newspaper. He won't be long."

The teacher peered at Reiko over her glasses before glancing around the room for Kensaku. Seeing that he had completed his work, she signalled for him to leave and carried on with her lesson.

Outside, Reiko leaned against a wall and inspected the boy before her. He was small with neat, black hair unlike the unruly black curls Tomoki sported, and unreadable, analytical eyes. He stood away from her, one arm wrapped around his middle as if he was holding himself together, and watched her guardedly.

"Okay Tsujii, I've heard you like swimming? The school newspaper is doing an article on sports in the student body and I can't think of any other swimmers. Could you maybe answer a few questions for me?" she asked as nicely as she could.

"I _did _like swimming. I don't swim anymore." He said coolly.

"Oh, well, that's even better then. You see, the, um, theme this month is motivation, so maybe you could tell me why you _lost _motivation."

He narrowed his eyes, clearly suspicious.

"I just couldn't afford the lessons anymore." He said finally.

Reiko frowned. She knew this was a lie as Tomoki had even told her he had paid for Kensaku's classes.

"I see, but surely you still go swimming, even if you don't take lessons anymore? It seems a shame to stop because of financial reasons." Reiko pushed.

Kensaku took a step backwards and paused before answering.

"You're not really from the newspaper are you?" he asked quietly.

"Yes I am! Why else would I ask you these questions?" Reiko replied indignantly.

"That I don't know. But if you were interviewing me for the newspaper you would have brought a notebook to write down my answers, and you also lied about not knowing ant other swimmers because the school has a swimming team." He said blandly, his voice bored. "So whatever this is about, I don't have the time."

Reiko scowled. He sounded years older than he was, and had sussed her out from the start. She sighed.

"Look, you're right. I'm not from the newspaper, in fact, I'm failing Japanese and wouldn't have a hope in hell of even getting on the newspaper team, but will you please just answer my questions? Please?"

Kensaku looked mildly shocked at her outburst, perhaps he was expecting her to back down, embarrassed?

"I'll ask again," Reiko said, sensing a weakening in his shell, "Why did you stop swimming? Is it because you're being bullied?"

Kensaku bit his lip. "No. I'm not being bullied. But the truth is I don't remember why I stopped swimming. Something happened the summer before I moved into seventh grade and since then my parents stopped taking me."

"I thought your brother took you swimming?" Reiko asked, unable to hold back anymore.

Kensaku shot her a strange look. "He stopped taking me too."

* * *

**Okay, I am really, really sorry for not updating in so long! I haven't been motivated to write at all and then someone reviewed after months and I thought you know what? I'm gonna write the next chapter! SO you've got a longer one this time:) Review please, although I understand if you're annoyed at me for taking so long:(**


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